Teen Thanks Strangers Fatally Stabbed Protecting Her From Racist

Destinee Mangum, 16, said in an emotional interview that she and her friend would be dead without the heroes.

A teenager targeted in a hate speech incident on Friday thanked two people killed while defending her and a friend on a train in Portland, Oregon, KPTV reports.

Destinee Mangum, 16, in an emotional interview with the Fox News affiliate, underscored that her heroes were strangers willing to sacrifice their lives to protect two teenagers over their racial and religious identity.

“And I just want to say thank you to them and their family and that I appreciate them because without them, we probably would be dead right now,” Destinee stated.

Destinee Mangum, one of the targets of hate speech on a MAX train, thanks strangers for saving her life. pic.twitter.com/sefmOAyIVt

Destinee said she and a 17-year-old friend, who is a Muslim, were on a MAX train when Jeremy Joseph Christian, 35, yelled at them to leave the country, telling them to go back to Saudi Arabia. The girls, fearing for their safety, moved toward the back of the train to escape Christian. That’s when strangers confronted the man, who allegedly stabbed them to death.